Bramble happy to silence North-East critics

TITUS BRAMBLE believes he has proved the doubters wrong with a remarkable first season back in the North-East. The former Newcastle United centre-half returned to the region in the summer after two seasons with Wigan Athletic - a spell which revitalised the much-maligned defender. Steve Bruce took a punt on Bramble and took him to the DW Stadium, then raised eyebrows to sign him again, this time for Sunderland. After bouncing back from defeat at Everton with a fine defensive display at the Emirates on Saturday, Bramble paid tribute to his mentor. He said: "I hope I've proved people wrong. I'm just enjoying my football and I'm enjoying working with the manager. Brucie has always had faith in my ability and he has restored a lot of my confidence. "I'm really happy here, playing week in week out and hopefully I'm showing what I can do as a player. I can't speak highly enough of the man, he's a massive help to me and always has been." Bramble's time on Tyneside was dogged by costly mistakes, earning the nickname of Titus Shambles from his detractors, but his Sunderland spell has been - for the most part - of high quality. However, his side's push for a European place took a massive dent with a four-game losing run, which the centre-half was delighted to help halt on Saturday. Bramble said: "We haven't played badly this year, but the last game at Everton, it wasn't acceptable really. We've managed to keep the confidence levels up as a group, but this was very important. Not just because of the point, but also the clean sheet. "It does become a worry when you go on a bad run. We have kept working hard and we have kept believing. "We know if we do the things right that the manager drills into us we are a good side and we have shown that at Arsenal. "I was pleased with my performance, I wasn't happy with what happened at Everton. Defensively we were all over the place at Goodison. "The manager has been annoyed. We hadn't kept a clean sheet in six games and we've conceded as many goals in that time as we did in the first 15, 20 games. "We have gone back to basics a little bit and we've been rewarded with a good point. This result has got our season back on track, we needed it. The last four games had sent us on a bit of a slide, but this keeps the season going." Bramble was at the centre of controversy when he lost his balance and dragged Arsenal's Andrey Arshavin to the ground when the Russian had shot wide - an incident Arsene Wenger believed was worthy of a penalty. But Bramble said: "I suppose Andrey was a little too honest, he stayed on his feet when he could have gone down. But I like to think it is just good defending. He didn't score and we got a point from the game. "I put him off - that's what I'm there to do."

Source: Northern_Echo